Head Coach Mike Vrabel on WEEI 1/19: "We have another huge opportunity in front of us"

Mike Vrabel (0:00)

Good morning, Coach, victory shot time.

Greg Hill (0:02)

There you go. Man, let's go, unbelievable. Here we go.

SPEAKER_3 (0:04)

Cheers.

Greg Hill (0:05)

All right, cheers. Cheers to you, cheers to your team. Very good. I mean, for me, tastes sweeter the farther this team goes. I don't know about you.

Mike Vrabel (0:18)

That'll work. We'll keep getting them. We'll keep bringing them.

Greg Hill (0:23)

How big of a factor was the weather yesterday?

Mike Vrabel (0:25)

I mean, I think it was probably a little bit. I mean, it was slick. It was the wintry mix. It wasn't just snow. I mean, it was, you know, but everybody played in the same conditions. I thought it was a little bit of a factor. I mean, I don't know if it mattered, I guess, in the outcome of the game. But, you know, I mean, it was noticeable.

Greg Hill (0:49)

Is it a disadvantage when you're a quarterback like CJ Stroud who plays inside a good part of the team?

Mike Vrabel (0:54)

Again, having never played quarterback, I couldn't tell you.

Greg Hill (0:57)

Yeah.

Mike Vrabel (0:58)

Yeah. Sure, there's a lot of guys that have played in elements and had good games. I'm sure it's different. It's probably hard to recreate that, whether in Houston or whether you're in a dome or not.

SPEAKER_4 (1:12)

Mike, when you look at this defense, especially, you know, what you guys were able to do again yesterday, talk a little bit of about what, you know, obviously, these players is coaching staff defensively, the approach that you take in every week. What do you see and what are you loving from what they're doing?

Mike Vrabel (1:29)

Well, they play hard. I think that that's the thing. They play full tilt to the tackle. I think that they prepare. They try to have an understanding of what the plan is and what we need to take away or what we're trying to do each and every week. I feel like they're building confidence each and every week. I think, you know, they knew that the red zone wasn't where it should be throughout the year. Guys, you know, we didn't teams didn't get down there a bunch. But when they did, they were scoring touchdowns. And, you know, we've gone on a pretty good red zone streak here defensively the last probably three games back to the weather because it seemed like what you said after the game was you were going to celebrate it, but the guys weren't satisfied.

SPEAKER_3 (2:11)

So they weren't blaming any of the mistakes on the weather. What did you mean by not satisfied? And is it just they believe that they could play better than what they put out yesterday despite the win?

Mike Vrabel (2:19)

Well, I mean, I think we are trying to, you know, enjoy these things, but also not get caught up in thinking that this is the end of the journey. You know, we have another huge opportunity in front of us, an exciting one that our fans and everybody, a part of our ownership and team and everybody should be excited about.

SPEAKER_5 (2:42)

Can you believe you're here, like, that, given where you were, where you started your introductory press conference last January, February, all the games and all the practices in between, that you are one win away from the Super Bowl?

Mike Vrabel (2:54)

You know, I joke about this, but I probably, it's serious, with no expectations, you can't be disappointed. So, I just try to come to work each day and figure out, you know, what it is that we have to do. And if we're getting ready for games, then I'm gonna try to get everybody prepared and try to have a, you know, a plan. And then if we're not, then we'll figure out what part of the off season that we're in. So, I just haven't got caught up into it too much. I just want to try to, you know, be great for everybody here.

SPEAKER_4 (3:26)

Mike, when you start to look at where you are offensively and maybe a little bit of the struggles that you're having, but you're making the big plays when you need to make them most, what are some of the things, especially from maybe an online quarterback standpoint, ball security, be able to create points off the turnovers? What do you think you guys are going to do a little bit better this week?

Mike Vrabel (3:47)

Take care of the ball. I'll let the quarterback get hit.

SPEAKER_3 (3:52)

You have been very good about not letting the outside noise affect you guys, but after, in the locker room, a lot of guys said they saw what ESPN, that that entire panel picked the Texans.